Bookshops in Xiamen and reading in China

The english book, and in general the foreign language, market in China is understandably very small.

This is very bad news for most foreigners, especially foreigners who happen to be students, a demographic that has slowly been increasing in the past few years.

I would argue that the vast majority of foreign students in China can barely read Chinese literature untranslated. Speaking as a law student who finds herself occasionally required to translate text, translation is a nightmare in and of itself. I will leave the translation conversation for another post.

With little to do outside research or school activities for a barely social postgraduate student, casual reading is invaluable. And as much as I would like it, I do not have the financial resources to take off traveling every week.

Bookshops are generally abundant in Xiamen, from privately owned bookstores to large chains like Xinhua Bookstores and Sisyphe or 西西弗. Reading itself presents unique challenges.

Owning physical foreign language books is quite a luxury. A conversation I had with a Chinese friend about my concern about finding reading material for research and entertainment provided interesting insights. A lot of the academic text in university is works by Western authors, in some cases translated and others procured through not very legal means, especially if the university is not very high tier. Some students will labor over translating these works as a course requirement.

Most Chinese students do not keep paper books given the small living spaces, as even for Ph.D. students, dorms are typically shared and small. However, the internet has made life optimally convenient for Chinese people. Most things can be accessed and consumed online in quick succession. There is really no need to purchase physical books. Even though reading has recently remerged as a trend among young people.

I have previously explained options for finding books while in China but I thought I would make a post about my journey hunting down physical bookstores in Xiamen and rating my experiences there.

Bookshops worth visiting in Xiamen

1. Little Fishing Island Bookshop 小渔岛书店

📍Siming District Xiagang Street Daxue Road No.3

Open: 08:00-22:00

I don't think there's a more perfect name for a bookshop on an island. The shop itself doesn't look like much. Tucked away into a corner at the end of a street packed full of other interesting shops, I would say it's probably the only place I would spend the largest part of my time as a Chinese tourist in Shapowei.

The little bookshop sells old and second books, packed ceiling to floor with tomes and volumes of every size and variety of genres, from tiny vintage comic strips, and magazines, to Chinese medicine, architecture, art and many translations of foreign works. For a collector, this would be a treasure trove.

The shop received a 4.8/5 recommendation on Trip.com but what inevitably drove me to pay a visit was a random photo of a shelf in the shop promising second-hand books in English. I suppose I was either too late or too distracted by the covers of many of the books because I didn't spot any books in English.

It is worth a visit though for curious readers, researchers and people who just enjoy the sight and smell of bookshelves unapologetically laden with old books.

2. 10 o'clock Bookstore 十点书店

📍Siming District Zhonghua Street Zhongshan Road 242 underground level No.B008

Open: 10:00-22:00

I was pretty certain I had taken a wrong turn and ended up in the basement of a sketchy gang hideout when I took the escalator down a shopping center looking for this particular shop. The store's location is one of the easier ones, right within Zhonghua Cheng or China City Mall. As underwhelming as the basement of the mall looks (abandoned, floors that haven't seen a wet mop in months, lonely arcade machines and sleepy massage parlors), the bookstore itself is fantastically well kept, modern with a massive gift shop at the front and within its belly, shelves upon shelves of the latest volumes in China. Most in mandarin.

At the very back of the store is a table reserved for books in foreign languages, the majority of which are in English. Being the first physical bookstore I have visited with books that are not bilingual, I was practically foaming at the mouth with excitement.

Until I flipped the first book, ironically Moby Dick, and laid eyes on the ridiculous price tag at the back. The majority of the books on the table are classics and judging by the slight yellowing of the plastic covering the book, many before me have not deemed them worth buying. At one point they probably became decor.

However, I would suggest paying the shop a visit if you ever find yourself desperate enough.

3. Xiaofeng Bookshop 晓风书房

📍Siming District Daxue Road 162-116

Open: 09:00-22:00

This little shop is located in the university's food district, an area that is jam-packed with restaurants and small hole-in-the-wall eateries that cater to a mix of tourists, locals and students. Daxue Road. It is also much more realistically affordable than places within the tourist area of Shapowei.

Fun fact: 晓风 (xiaofeng) is one half of a Chinese idiom 晓风残月 (xiaofeng canyue) meaning "morning breeze waning moon". Taken from a very beautiful, romantic but sad poem “雨霖铃” by the Song Dynasty poet Liu Yong, born in Fujian Province, where Xiamen is located. Liu Yong spent a great deal of his time in entertainment districts, therefore his poetry as beautiful as it is rife with inuendos, making it popular among fantasy romance drama fans in China.

After 2 failed attempts at finding bookshops, I wasn't very optimistic about this one. I had actually planned on scraping this blogpost altogether and starting a new one. But boredom struck.

There are no books in English here. SORRY. However, I liked the atmosphere of this bookshop. I'm also convinced it is optimally placed to profit being just directly opposite a middle school and a stone throwaway from the university. For a cute stationery lover, this bookstore is paradise.

4. The Waitu Xiamen Bookstore or 外图厦门书城

📍Siming District Hubin South Road 809 Xiamen International Cultural Center Daxia

Open: 09:00-22:00

Possibly the largest bookstore in Xiamen.

There has been a sudden boom in architecturally interesting-looking bookstores and libraries in China in recent years. As an optimist, I like to think that this is possibly to make these spaces less intimidating to the public and encourage more reading. It has nothing to do with inter-provincial politics or rich people with too much time and money on their hands.

Well, Xiamen definitely tried with this one. While the exterior of this building is unattractive, the interior makes an effort with a reflective ceiling on the ground floor to create the illusion of grandness with its curving wooden bookshelves. I just remember feeling exceedingly underwhelmed the first time I visited.

But if "Don't judge a book by its cover" were a place, it would be this one.

Waitu serves the purpose of a bookstore, library, cultural and educational center and department store. While its SIX levels consist of books in every subject and genre imaginable, it still manages to have rooms for other arts, for instance, Chinese calligraphy, music rooms, ceramics and pottery making, painting, and even has study centers for kids and adults, cafes and restaurants, gift shops, eductional tech shops and stationery shops.

But most importantly it has the widest selection of affordable books in English in Xiamen. Books that are not just bilingual or decorative or posing as something they are not under the cover (I have seen things). Finding this section was probably the finest thing that has happened to me since this year started.

And there is plenty of space to sit and enjoy some reading!

I would actually really recommend visiting this place simply for their stationery shop, as it has by far my favourite shop with the largest range of supplies. (It's the only place I could find good quality 0.7mm ballpoint pens!)

Have you had an interesting experience looking for books in China?

Love,

Pat in China.